Use Of Stress And Intonation In Newspaper Headings

Use of stress and intonation in newspaper headings

To

Mr. SHOAIL FALAK SHER

By Muhammad Nasir Kahlown,

Sarfraz Munir Chaudhary

STRESS What is stress?

Stress is the degree of force with which a syllable or a word is uttered.

It can be called a grammatical device in spoken English.

In English, a part of the meaning of a word depends on its stress; it (stress) serves to mark the function of the words in spoken English.

Word Stress Word stress shows what syllable or syllables in

a word are stressed, e.g. `useful is stressed on first syllable.

(The primary stress is indicated by placing vertical stroke above the syllable)

Mis’take is stressed on the second. (Secondary stress is indicated by placing

vertical stroke above the secondary syllable ) `Advant’tageous has a primary stress on the

third syllable and a secondary stress on the third syllable .

Sentence Stress Sentence stress indicates what word in a

sentence are stressed. Look at the following paragraph:

`John is my `friend. He `lives in `Lahore. His `father is a `teacher in a `school. `John `visits me `every `month.

In the paragraph we find that certain words are stressed whereas others are not. Generally nouns demonstrative and interrogative pronouns, main verbs, adverbs, adjectives are stressed ,whereas pronouns, prepositions, helping verbs, conjunctions are not stressed.

Examples of some stress patterns of simple words.Examples of some stress patterns of simple words. In two syllable words, there is a tendency to

stress the first syllable for the noun and the second syllable for the verb. E.g.

a) Conflict (noun) conflict (verb)

b) Convict (noun) convict (verb)

c) Present (noun) present (verb)

d) Insult (noun) insult (verb) In Pakistan, there is wide-spread tendency to

use the verb stress even for the nouns. This practice must be avoided.

The adjectives also follow the same patterns as the nouns: record , compact

Native English words tend to place the stress on the basic word and to maintain it there even if ‘prefixes’ or ‘suffixes’ are added:

a) man manly manlike

b) stand standing outstanding Nouns and adjectives ending in “ian” and “ity”

are stressed on the third last syllable:

a) grammarian , utilitarian

b) majority , inferiority

Nouns ending in “phy”, “thy”, “try”, “ncy”, “gy” and “any” indicate stress pattern on the third last syllable. e.g.

philosophy , geology , tendency .

Adjectives ending in “al” indicate stress on the third last typical syllable:

typical , logical .

Sentence stress in English

In English speech some words are stressed and others are not. In normal speech all nouns, demonstrative and interrogative pronouns, main verbs, adjectives and adverbs are stressed.

The pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, helping verbs are not stressed. e.g.

1) It’s a `door.

2)`Take a `book out of the `bag.

3) The `dog is a `faithful `animal.

4) `Bring me a `pencil.

Sometimes, a word which is normally unstressed in a sentence, is stressed when we want to lay emphasis on it. In this way the meaning of the whole sentence changes. e.g. He is my friend.

In a normal speech, the word friend is stressed. But if we stressed other words in the sentence, the meaning changes as follows:

1) `He is my friend. (He, not the other fellow)2) He `is my friend. (Why do you deny it)3) He is my `friend. (Not Aslam’s)

Weak Forms In English

In English speech some words are stressed and others are not. In normal speech all nouns, demonstrative and interrogative pronouns, main verbs, adjectives and adverbs are stressed.

These words are said to have weak forms. The following is the detailed list of words which have both strong and weak forms.

  Strongform

Weak formExample

Prepositions      

to tu :tə  I went to the market .

Forfɔ:(r)fə(r)  Wait for me !

Fromfrɒmfrəm  She's from York .

Intoɪntu:ɪntə  Put it into the box .

Ofɒvə(v)  A bottle of wine .

Asæzəz..  as good as gold ...

at ætət  He's not at home .

Auxiliary verbs

  Strong Form Weak Form  

Example

Dodu:də Where do you live?

Areɑ:ə(r)* John and Mary are here.

was wɒz wəz I was quite interested.

Werewɜ:wə(r) They were bored.

Wouldwʊdwəd She said she would be here.

Couldkʊd kəd What could I do?

Shouldʃʊdʃəd They should be here by now.

Cankænkən What can you do with it?

Mustmʌstməs(t) You must be a bit more patient.

Others  

  Strong Form  

Weak Form  

Example

Andændənd, ən, n4 Rock 'n' roll.

but bʌt bət ...but one of the main points...

Thanð ænðənIt's faster than mine.

that (as a relative)

ð ætð ətThe dog that bit me ...

you (as object pronoun)

ju: jə Where do you live?

your jɔ: jə (r) Where's your jumper?

her (as object pronoun)

hɜ:(r)(h)ə(r)* I'll give her a ring later.

Aeɪ əTake a good book.

an æn ən He's an idiot!

Theði:ðə, ði (before a vowel)

What's the time?

INTONATION What is Intonation? Intonation is the tune, the melody, the music

of speech. When a person speaks, he does not say every word on the same note. There are changes of ‘pitch’, there is rise and fall of voice. The study of these changes of pitch is called “intonation”.

Intonation shows the speaker’s mental attitude. The word ‘yes’ may serve as a definite statement, or an exclamation, or as a question, depending on intonation.

Gimson defines intonation as:“The variations which takes place in

the pitch of the voice in connected speech, i.e., the variations in the pitch of the musical note produced by the variation of the vocal cords”.

He divides the functions of intonations into two main categories:

a) Accentual Intonation

b) Non-accentual Intonation.

ACCENTUAL INTONATION:Accentual intonation changes are the most efficient means of rendering prominent for a listener those parts of an utterance on which the speaker wishes to concentrate attention.

NON-ACCENTUAL INTONATION:Non-accentual intonation is used as a means for distinguishing different types of sentences. The same sequence of words may, with a falling intonation, be interpreted as a statement, or, with a rising intonation as a question.

Tone: Tone is the overall behaviour of pitch.

Pitch: Pitch is frequency of vibration of vocal cords.

Kinds of Tones and their UsesKinds of Tones and their Uses

Linguistics are not in complete agreement about the precise number of tones which are used by speakers of English some distinguish as many as eight, others work with four or five. The following tones are the ones most usually encountered.

Fall Rise – fall Fall – rise Rise Level

Falling Intonation or the Falling Tone In the falling-tone, there is a fairly high level

pitch on the first stressed syllable, a slightly lower level on the next, and so on down a descending scale till the last stressed syllable, on which the pitch of the voice falls to its lowest normal tone.

USES: 1) Statements (without emotional

implications); as, My name is Hamid.

I am twenty years old.

2) Questions, beginning with a question word; as,

What’s your name?How old are you?

3) Commands; as,Sit down.Stand up.

4) Exclamations; as, What a beautiful picture!

How nice! 5) Question tags, when the speaker does not expect

the other person to disagree with him as, It’s Sunday today, isn’t it?

You are on a holiday, aren’t you?

Rising Intonation or the Rising Tone In the rising tone there is a series of descending steps

on stressed syllables as in the falling tone, but there is a rise on the last stressed syllable.

USES: 1) Questions that can be answered with ‘yes’ or ‘No’ ;

as, Are you leaving tomorrow? Was he hurt?

2) Question tags, when the speaker seeks an information or does not necessarily expect the other person to agree with him; as,

You will visit Lahore, won’t you? You are not very rich, are you?

3) In polite request or encouraging invitations, e.g.

Do’ come to our, house. ‘Come, here, please.

The Falling-Rise Tone The use of this tone involves a moderately high to low

fall, followed by rise in the pitch from low to medium. This tone is used for special implications not verbally expressed.

The term ‘special implications’ can include insinuations, veiled insults, apology, unpleasant news, happiness, reassurance, or doubt on the part of the speaker as to the validity of his remark.

EXAMPLES:a) She’s very clever.

(she is clever but not dependable)

b) Your essay is very good. (though good but not interesting)

Functions Of Intonation

Use of stress and intonation in newspaper headings

My friend Faraz.

True to his self till the last.

Poet of love, protest and peace.

The romantic rebel.

After Faiz’s death in 1984, Faraz happened to be the only poet of caliber and his conviction left for the people to seek inspiration from.

PPP workers rejoice at Asif’s victory.

Bush ready to work with Asif on terror war, economy.

An arduous journey from prison to presidency.

Parliament is supreme: Asif

18 children, driver feared dead as school van falls into canal.

Taliban kill two kidnapped persons.

Suicide bomber kills 30; target was ‘some other place’.

Democracy should benefit poorest of the poor: LHC (Zardari)

China dazzles the world with glittering Paralympics opening ceremony.

Serena sets up title clash with Jankovic in US Open.

Nadal clinched his very first title at the 2008 Hamburg Masters and defeated Federer again.

The French are well-known for fashion, the art and craft, cinema and of course good food.

Tempura is one of the triumphs of Japanese cooking _ fried food that is light and fresh-tasting rather than heavy and greasy, so that the essence of the ingredient itself completely defines the taste.

Anti-bacterial properties of honey quicken skin healing, reducing infection. Olive oil and honey contains flavanoids to protect cells and inhibit histamine in allergic reactions.

Inflammation of the gall bladder in 90 per cent of the cases is associated with gall stones.

It wouldn’t be unfair or inaccurate to suggest that the socio-political affairs of the country have a direct impact on the music industry.

One shouldn’t be prejudiced against any form of music. It’s sad that in our part of world classical music buffs generally don’t think very highly of the popular genre.

Conclusion There is no simple way of learning the stress and

intonation of a word in English. The best way is to listen attentively to a good speaker and to look up dictionary. The stress system in English is different from what it is in the mother tongue. The meaning of an utterance is different depending upon which word is stressed. Pakistani mother does not observe such distinctions. The intonation of English is also different from that of mother tongue. It has been rightly said that whereas it is easier to master individual sounds in English, it is very difficult to master the stress, rhythm and intonation patterns.